1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to an image forming apparatus, and, more particularly, to an image forming apparatus having an improved feeding configuration that minimizes a size of a main body of the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus prints image data on a printing medium, such as paper, according to a printing signal applied from a host apparatus such as a personal computer (PC). In general, the image forming apparatus comprises a supplying part which supplies individual sheets of printing media, an image forming part which forms an image on a printing medium fed from the supplying part by a feeding part, and a discharging part which discharges the image-formed printing medium. Recently, as new printing technology has been developed, image forming apparatuses also have been made to comprise a duplex printing function in which images are printed on both sides of the printing medium.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view schematically illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus 10 having a conventional duplex printing function. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional image forming apparatus 10 comprises a feeding cassette 20 in which printing media are stored, an image forming part 30 which forms an image on a printing medium fed from the feeding cassette 20, a discharging part 40 through which the printing medium is discharged after the image is formed thereon, and a reversing part 50 which changes a feeding direction of the printing medium discharged through the discharging part 40 and re-feeds the same printing medium to the image forming part 30.
However, in the conventional image forming apparatus 10, the reversing part 50, which reverses the feeding direction of the printing medium from the discharging part 40 to transfer the printing medium toward the feeding cassette 20, is separately provided on an upper side of the feeding cassette 20. Accordingly, since the reversing part 50 requires a space with a predetermined height h1 inside a main frame 60, the entire height of the image forming apparatus 10 is determined by the sum of the height h1 of the reversing part 50 and the height h2 of the feeding cassette 20. Accordingly, the height of the reversing part 50 needs to be minimized so as to reduce the height and the size of the image forming apparatus 10.